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If your cables and volume are okay

Test if your sound card driver and cables are okay

dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/dsp

or

while true; do yes; done | dd of=/dev/dsp

The first command throws random bytes into the sound device, the second one uses the "y" byte. The "y" sound is more pleasant to the ears, but with other soundcards than mine, it might not even be audible.

If you hear a sound

If you hear a sound, your cables and drivers are okay.

If you do not hear a sound

If you do not hear a sound, see if you get an error message.

If you do not get an error message

If you do not get an error message, it can be a driver issue. To find out, delete all sound devices and re-create them:

tweedleburg:~ # rm /dev/dsp*
tweedleburg:~ # udevtrigger

Check again with dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/dsp. If you still do neither get an error message nor sound, it is most probably a driver issue. Get yourself a USB soundcard and proceed.